Fifty up

Having become completely fed up with all the wind and rain that has been preventing me from putting my nets up recently, I was delighted to see a forecast saying it was going to be both dry and calm today.  When I woke up, the forecast was correct for once and I almost ran down to the garden to set the nets.

The catch started nicely with a chaffinch and a couple of dunnocks finding the nets quite quickly. One of the dunnocks was a re-trap from my first garden ringing session back in March. Its CP was a tad bigger than it had been back then! A gorgeous male starling jumped into the nets next and for once, I found this one quite easy to age as an adult.

Dunnock

'Spotless' adult male starling

Two house sparrows followed, with the female being bigger and quite considerably heavier than the male (and yes, I double checked the scales). The next bird into the net, an adult female blackbird, was the fiftieth bird processed in the garden. Out of those fifty, only five have been re-traps. I was hoping I might also break fifty birds ringed today but unfortunately, the sun decided to come out to play and bring its friend, the light breeze, with it.

Lucky number 50

A couple of hours later, having had no further birds, I was contemplating taking the nets down and digging out the lawnmower. Luckily, I listened to my intuition and left the nets up for a few more minutes. Just as well I did because within a minute or two, the sun and the breeze went to play hide and seek behind the clouds and my garden became blackbird central.

Three blackbirds and a robin later and the conditions changed once more and this time I did take the nets down. One of the blackbirds was a re-trap, therefore leaving me short by two for my fifty new birds ringed. I will just have to save that milestone for next time (which, judging by the weather forecast I have just seen, may be some time).

Oh, and note to self (and anyone else out there who is as unobservant as me when they are mowing the lawn) … lawnmowers and guy ropes don’t mix! Oh, and just in case you are wondering, guy ropes also don’t mix with strimmers!!!

Ruth